Romance in Japan
by YaoiTrouble1213
Summary: Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Silver, Blaze, Rouge, Amy and Shadow are going on a trip to Japan. Fun events happen as the blue hero falls in love slowly with a hedgehog he would never have expected. Hmm, what would he look like in a kimono?...Hot springs...? Sonamy at first. Mainly Sonadow. Focused on fluff and romance. Based on personal experience. Cover was lazily done...
1. Two Days Away

Alright guys, this is the sequel to As If, and I'm proud to say this is an attempt to write a fluffy romance story! And yes…I'm guilty. This is a Sonadow, yet again. Please, help me and suggest some other couples for me! I need to change my pairings every once in a while…Any couple is okay, gay, lesbian, straight. ^^ Requests are welcome too.

Edit: Gah, I'm so excited to write this. I've got so many ideas popping into my head right now, and I feel like I could just explode. I hope the story doesn't get rushed…I tend to do that when I get too much ideas.

*get's smacked* On with the story!

*Romance in Japan*

Sonic and friends, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Silver, Shadow and Blaze along with Rouge decided that they would take a trip to Earth again and explore that they hadn't when they were teleported there by accident. Amy suggested that they should put some votes into a box and see where they would go.

"Hmm," the pink hedgehog hummed as she took the papers out of the box. "It seems like we'd gotten two votes for France, and three votes for America and Japan. Umm…"

"A tie?" Tails poked his head next to Amy's to look at the words scribbled on the eight pieces of scrap paper.

The girl nodded as the little kitsune brought a hand up to his face, subconsciously tapping his chin. He turned to Sonic in the circle and smiled. "Sonic, one or two?"

The blue speedster raised an eye ridge but answered nonetheless. "…Two."

Tails nodded and announced, "Japan it is, then!"

As childish as it may sound, the group of friends cheered, and their chatters made a decrescendo. "Who'll get the tickets?" Blaze asked.

The small voices lowered to an uncomfortable silence, until a midnight colored hedgehog with blood red streaks on his body volunteered. Rouge said that she would do better since she could fly there.

"I can teleport, bat," Shadow muttered.

"Fine, then." Rouge rested a hand to her well shaped hip and stayed quiet.

The circle of friends left after discussing happily about what they were going to pack. After a while, they left went about their own business. Shadow was leaving when Sonic grabbed a hold of his arm. He smiled, "Mind if I tag along?"

"…," the black hedgehog looked away and stayed quiet for a moment before turning back and murmured, "Fine."

That made Sonic laugh for some reason. It earned him a glare. "Sorry. It's just that you don't have to be so cold. My friends aren't around, you can chill."

"I don't 'chill,' hedgehog."

"Oh yeah, really. What about that time when—"

"Doesn't count."

"And that time when you—"

"That doesn't count either."

"And—"

"Shut. Up."

"Dude! Stop cutting me off! You always say something just before I reach the part where you get friendly and super cute!" Sonic growled lightly. "Of course, you're always cute—not in that way, at least."

Shadow sighed. "Whatever. You coming?"

He received a grin. "Race ya!" was the last thing he heard the hero utter before a sudden rush of wind whipped his quills forward. "I am not cute…" he sighed before running off after the blue idiot. Did he even know where he was going?

*Romance in Japan*

"That would be 1182 rings," a green and silver colored hawk replied. To Sonic and Shadow's surprise, there were actually mobians that live on this planet.

"Shadow, 1182 rings times eight is a lot. Are you sure you want to pay for it?" the azure hero asked.

"I work for G.U.N. I can afford 9456 rings." Shadow, who was next to him answered.

"Hmm, if you say so…"

Without further hesitation, Shadow took out a card and gave it to the hawk. She scanned the numbers over with her light green eyes that looked almost blind and typed in the numbers on the computer in front of her. After she was finished, she handed the card back and gave him eight tickets.

The hawk gave the two an indifferent expression and said the same words for everyone, "Thank you for your corporation. Your flight will be two days away. Have a nice day."

Sonic looked at Shadow. "Start packing?"

"Yeah."

*Romance in Japan*

"Sonikku, what should I wear for the trip?" Amy swayed around with two dresses in her hands. One was short but with fur linings and one was long, kind of like a coat, but with a belt in the middle.

"Aw, Ames, you know you look good in everything. You can bring both if you want, but I'm kind of thinking that it will be hot there." Sonic said, sitting on Amy's bed, which was covered in a hot pink sheet.

"Tehehe, you really think so? Okay…then I'm just going to bring some shorts and tank tops. The rest can be some skirts," Amy leaned forward and shared a light kiss with Sonic. "Thanks for the advice. I'm almost done packing, considering that most of my stuff is going to be clothes…so, do you want me to help you?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Sonic flashed her a smile. "You know I won't pack much."

"Oh…if you say so." Amy hugged him one last time before saying, "See you later, then." And left the room, probably to go and see Rouge and Blaze to see how they were packing.

Sonic looked around in the mostly filled with pink room. Packing? All he needed was some socks, gloves, a bottle of water and he was good to go anywhere.

Seeing nothing that he could do here anymore, he left the room, the house, the neighborhood, the town, the state. He ran. The two day wait was much too long for him. A small adventure wouldn't do any harm.

Blaaaaah! Why did I end it like that?! That's so cheap!


	2. Airplane Flight Part 1

Chapter 2: Airplane Flight Part 1

"Guuuuuh, when are we getting on the dreaded plane…" Sonic groaned.

"Sonic, I can't believe you! Why would you jump into a deep HOLE!" Tails rambled on about how dangerous Sonic's little adventure was.

"Oh my gosh, Sonikku, I know just what to do! We can look through the crowd and see who's cute!" Amy suggested.

"Do what you guys want, but I'm reading a book," Blaze flicked her tail as she turned the page to her book.

"I wonder if she'll be okay. I mean…I hope the spike trap before her works…and the hole I dug before the spike trap works…and the rope loop…and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," Knuckles muttered to a picture of his Master Emerald, hugging the picture.

Rouge was all the way across the room, flirting with someone who she doesn't even know. Oh, who has the courage to do that but the bat…

Shadow was dozing off lightly.

"Hey, Sonic. Do you want to play some games?" Silver waved.

Finally. Something that's not annoying or boring.

*Romance in Japan*

Kirby died again because of the startling announcement that their plane was ready for boarding.

"Aw man, I was so close to beating that freakish-monster-boss!" Sonic exclaimed.

"You mean the…uh…I don't even remember his name," Silver sweatdropped.

"Nevermind that, let's go!" Tails said, dragging his luggage and heading towards the woman waiting in front of a big glass door.

Rouge had returned to the group of furries and pulled her bags and followed the kid, giving Shadow a nudge while passing him. The black hedgehog's eyes snapped open and he looked around. Without a word, he stood up and grabbed his suitcase. Silver made his white backpack fly behind him, a strange aura surrounding him and the bag. Blaze walked lightly on her heels, making practically no sound at all. She'd packed all her things in with Silver's backpack, and so she only held onto her passport, ticket, and some books. Knuckles' heavy shoes stomped on the ground, the loud metal clinking sound mixing with the chatters of other people who were waiting for their flight to be called. Amy happily skipped after the others, her—thank god, for once—orange suitcase with red stripes on the sides rolling behind her.

Seeing that everyone had left, Sonic went after his friends with only his passport (which he found really annoying to get) and his ticket in hand. He held a small notebook and some pencils, along with a white headphone with the ridges colored green.

Passport and tickets, please," she asked politely.

Tails dug into his two tails, handing the requested things to the woman. She gave it back when she'd gotten a look from the things she needed to check and ripping a part of the ticket off.

Next was Amy. She took a rather long time, flipping through her purse, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

Rouge swiped the passport and the right fight from between her two 'lady lumps' and showed it to her. "Hey, unbutton that first one. Show some neck. And higher heels would look better on you, sweetie. Trust me," she flashed the woman a smirk and a small wink before flying to catch up with a blob of pink and orange, leaving the woman red faced.

After all of the eight mobians had gone through the screen door, they were now in the entrance gate where metal walls trapped them. The rumblings of wheels rolling and hitting the steal ground was echoing and bouncing off the walls as many people walked and walked…and walked. Finally, they saw the end of the gate.

Another woman, in her uniform of black and white along with a bright red bow, next to the entrance to the plane welcomed them aboard the Universal Airline and bowed. The group of eight made their way into the narrow corridors of the plane and searched for their plane seats.

Sonic looked at his ticket. It said Row 33, C. _27…28…29…skip, skip, skippity skip…ah, Row 33, C._ Sonic thought.

The eight mobians found their seats, put their luggage up above them, and settled down. But during the process, you can be sure that there were a lot of chaos. Either they got their hair pulled or they got kicked or stepped on.

In the four middle seats, Sonic sat to the very left with Amy next to him, her seating number was Row 33, D. As much as the pink girl hated the fact that Knuckles' locks kept on poking at her, she still let him sit without making him tie it up into a ponytail. The echidna's seating number was Row 33, E. Tails' namesakes swished excitedly under his seat, tickling the emergency life suit. The number he had was Row 33, F.

The two seats on the left sat Shadow and Rouge, the hedgehog's number was 33, A and the bat's number was 33, B. (You all can figure out the pattern by now) The opposite window seats were Silver and Blaze, with Blaze closest to the window. Silver had 33, G and Blaze had gotten the last seat, 33, H. The naïve albino hedgehog couldn't get happier, while Blaze had nothing to feel. Shadow had hoped to sit alone, but ah, what can he do if Rouge had gotten the seat next to him? Said bat was too busy teasing the hedgehog about his pad of chestfur and how out of place yet cute it was to see the death glares she'd been receiving. Well, maybe she was ignoring it on purpose.

Ten minutes had passed, and just as Sonic was getting bugged at how they still weren't going yet, the plane shifted and its engine roared to life. Tails hastily muffled his ears to reduce the loud rumbling, and Rouge covered her ears just like Tails. Blaze growled a little and let her ears drop down against her skill. The rest of the hedgehog's' ears twisted in every direction uncontrollably as if they were doing some well practiced dance that was so complex, there weren't any order to them. And Knuckles…well, he didn't appear to have ears…Maybe it was hidden under his long quills. But either way, he wasn't bothered.

A sound echoed throughout the airplane and a man's voice came on. "Welcome aboard the Universal Airline, and thank you for flying with us. We want to make sure that your flights are safe and comfortable, so before we take off, we will be showing a brief safety presentation." The small screens in the middle of the plane slid down and a blonde haired woman started to go over the rules.

"All carry on items should now be stored securely. It should either be on top in the shelf, or under the seat in front of you. The aisles should be clear. Your mobile phones and other electronics like laptops and itouches should be shut off. Once airborne, we'll let you know when you will be able to use approved electronic devices, but note that some items such as phones may not be used during this flight at any time. You'll find a list of approved electronics in the In Flight Information section of Sky Magazine in the pocket on the back of the seat you have in front of you. If you are seated next to the emergency exits, please take the responsibility to read the Emergency Exit Seating on the back of the information magazine. If you're not able or prefer not to perform this function, just let us know and we'll be happy to find you another seat. As we leave the gate, please make sure that your seatbelt is fastened. To fasten, insert the metal tip into the buckle, and adjust the strap so it's low and tight across your lap."

"Oh my Chaos, why is this taking so long?" Sonic whispered, but Tails just 'shhh!'ed at him and he stayed quiet.

"To release the buckle, just lift the top of the remain seated with your seatbelts securely fastened, anytime the seatbelt sign is on. And even if the seatbelt sign is off, you should keep it on, in case we get unexpected rough air. For everyone's safety, the federal regulations require all passengers to comply with the posted placards and lighted signs located throughout the cabin. Smoking is not allowed on any Universal flight."

Then the woman began to discuss the exits and how things work. If there is a power outage, emergency floor lights will be found near your seats, and all that. And then, she told the passengers about how the panels above their seats will open and gas masks will drop down, and explained the directions of how to put it on. Then, the life rafts and how they were under your seats and how to put it on correctly. The last few things that were mentions is that your seats should be upright and your tray tables should be put away. After talking a little more, the video was concluded with a, 'thank you' and the screens went to a map of where they were now and the line of the rout they will be taking and how much more hours left. It said 14 hours. Tails checked his wrist watch. It was 10:26 A.M. They should arrive at about 12:30 A.M. in the next day, but judging on the time difference, it should be something different.

The rumbling got worse, and the plane started moving very slowly.

Shadow closed his eyes again, and seeing that, Rouge followed suit. Sonic took the magazine and flipped it through quickly, not paying any attention at the instructions and the words that were printed on there. Amy held hands with Sonic as she settled her head lightly on top of Sonic's peach shoulder, closing her eyes as well. Knuckles crossed his arms across his chest and criss crossed his legs as well, staring at the small screen above him. Silver looked outside the window just like Blaze was.

Now gliding, the plane gained speed second by second, and within a nauseous moment, it lifted off the ground, giving you the feeling of being stuck in the air yet still moving forwards. Sonic didn't seem to be too bothered with the feeling, and he looked around. Amy still had her eyes closed, Tails was still reading, Knuckles eventually shut his eyes, Blaze settled back into her seat and folded her arms, looking ahead, with Silver still taking interest of the things out the window. His eyes slid to the left. Both the bat and the hedgehog didn't have their eyes open. Rouge looked more like an innocent and beautiful person, and Shadow looked less serious. Sonic's emerald gaze quickly passed over Rouge, and was just about to close his own eyes as well before quickly turning back to her direction. The ebony hedgehog didn't look like the serious and menacing self…at all. He looked peaceful. Light spirited. Young. Beautiful, even.

Sonic quickly shook his head. The vibrations from the plane was finally getting to him, he thought. He shut his eyes and let his mind go blank.

**Uhh...Look guys, I don't remember much from the airplane flights and how things work. Go easy on me and not be so picky? I apoligize! *bows* **

**HAHAHAHAHA! Whatchu gonna do?! I left you off with that! Part two will be coming~  
I searched up a video on youtube and it helped me with most of the stuff I just typed about the instructions for the plane...I reworded many of the sentences, but I still want to disclaim that most of the stuff came from the video. If it didn't, I would've had a very hard time explaining...**


	3. Airplane Flight Part 2

Chapter 3: Airplane Flight Part 2

When the dizzy feeling was gone, everyone opened their eyes.

Sonic looked at the screen, and the very corner of the mini television was a multicolored hole. Sonic nudged Amy to get Tails' attention, and Amy tapped Knuckles' shoulder and asked the same thing. Tails looked up from the guide and tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

"What's that smudge on the screen?" Sonic asked, pointing at the swirling hole.

"Oh, that," Tails said. "You know how Earth and Mobius are completely different planets?"

A nod.

"And the kid, Chris?"

A look of recognition lit in Sonic's eyes and he nodded again.

"Well, time passes differently on Earth, and he's already grown up. He wanted to see you again, and maybe see more of our kinds so he worked on a portal where it will send us right into Earth's atmosphere when we cross it. It's kind of like a different time zone, or the International Date Line. You cross it, and we're somewhere else."

"Ah. Alright, sounds reasonable," replied Sonic.

"Wait, Tails, how do you know all this?" questioned Amy, suddenly taking interest.

"Oh, heh, you see, before we left to go back to Mobius, Chris and I both made a little device that can send messages. It's kind of like texting, except you can do it even with the long distances of planets apart. Sorry for not telling you earlier."

Seeing that the conversation couldn't go on any longer without being awkward, the blue hedgehog turned and looked to see what Silver was doing. He was quietly conversing with the lavender cat. Nothing much interesting there. He turned the opposite way. Shadow looked serious again, and with the half lidded eyes that Rouge had with the mysterious glint in her blue eyes, it had turned her from beautiful to seductive again.

This time, his eye left this dark double with ease. Finding nothing better to do, he took a different magazine from his seat pocket and flipped it open. Sonic sweatdropped. The pages were all filled with pictures of make-up and girls. The azure hero didn't find it very interesting. He figured that since he's already loving someone, he won't be able to set his eye on any other woman. He believed that Amy was the most pretty and nice girl he'd ever meet. Well, at least for now. But, as satisfying and logical that explanation was, it just didn't feel…right, complete. But seeing no better explanation, he just stuck to it and assured that the feeling was only the excitement he had in his guts for visiting Japan for the first time.

The same sound before the safety presentation was heard again, and the man's voice came on. "Hello passengers, welcome aboard on the Universal Airline. You may use your electronics now." a lower tune of the right tone sounded, that announcement was over.

Someone whispered the blue hedgehog's name. Said 'hog let his gaze settle in the direction it was heard. Silver.

"You want to finish defeating Marx Soul?"

"Mark-the-what?"

"_Marx Soul._ You know, the 'freakish-monster-boss'?"

"Ooooh. Sure," Sonic scooched over a bit and patted the space next to him.

Silver carefully stepped over the three pairs of feet before reaching to the space provided and sat down, paying extra attention not to bump into Amy or sit on her hand. "Here," he snapped open the dark blue DSXL and handed it over to his companion.

Clicking the True Arena, Sonic went into a series of pressing A's and punching B's. After clearing all the minor levels, he reached the four final bosses and defeated the four, Marx Soul appeared. Sonic shifted in his seat and became more concentrated. He kept on dying on this level. He's going to defeat this monster. He's going to.

"Shizz, that was so close!" Sonic muttered as he averted his eyes from the top screen to down below to his HP gauge. Only half full, while Marx still had 3/4 of his HP left.

"Block," Silver said. "Now. Now!"

Sonic's heart clenched and time paused for a second. He almost got sucked into that big hole. He'd been there once, and he never wanted to go there again. You get killed if you don't have full HP, and he doesn't right now…

Finally damaging the boss enough, the fight became faster and the monster started attacking faster. Sonic's hand got moist. "Chaos…I got this…"

"Oh my fraud. You won!" Silver whispered after another few minutes of 'clean' swearing, and patted Sonic on the shoulder, who was lying back in his seat, exhausted.

"Hah…take that…Freakish-Monster-Boss…" Sonic said.

Doo-ding. The sound made an appearance again. "Hello passengers. We are now sending out packets of snacks and drinks. Please wait for a flight attendant to come by." Doo-doo. It was over.

"Silver, you should head back. Thanks for the time, man." Sonic fisted his arm and smiled.

"Hey, least I can do for assuming you were the Iblis Trigger for the last few months." Silver laughed sheepishly, remember the time when he kept on knocking Sonic out by flinging him to a wall. He still didn't get why rings fly out of him when he did that…

A flight attendant came into sight and asked Rouge what she would like. "Mmm, orange juice will be fine," she replied. The woman poured a small cup of the requested juice and handed it to the bat and turned her attention to Shadow.

"Sprite, please," Shadow tried for a smile that turned half way up.

When she was finished serving Shadow, Sonic asked for coke with ice. He liked it when the cold solid water splits into a million pieces when he bites on it and fills his mouth of icy coldness. It gives it a good edge.

Amy got lemonade, Tails got plain water, and Knuckles got…tomato juice? What? Why would he want that? Well, it's not really anyone's business what the tomato colored echidna want anyway.

Sonic pulled out his tray table and set his cup on the little shallow circle that was meant especially to put the cup. Taking out his notebook and the pencils he'd brought, he turned to a brand new page and started doodling. It was of him and Tails on the X Tornado 2 with Sonic on the left wing with Tails controlling. He paused. Then scribbled some clouds around them.

Sure, Sonic was professional, but he's practiced. It didn't look half bad. It's just that he has some trouble with his hands…it's hard! You have to like, turn it and bend it, then do these weird angled, wiggly shape as the tip of the fingers. It was frustrating for him, so most of the time he just left it alone.

Then he was just about to draw Knuckles, but he had an urge to be challenged and draw someone or something he'd never done. His mind clicked. Shadow. Maybe add Rouge in there as a bonus.

He pictured the two as close brothers and sisters. They teased, they fought, they argued. Yet, when one of them is in need of help, they'll always be there to catch their fall. Shadow was folding his arms across his chest with an annoyed look. Rouge was flying around with a smirk. The combo was a very interesting one. Then Sonic got another idea. He wanted to try to draw the girl Shadow had described. That blonde little girl, the first friend he had.

He turned the page. This wasn't a doodle. He wanted to try his best on this one. Shadow was on the bottom left of the corner with a sad but calm expression on his face. His arm was stretched out, grabbing the little girl's hand with his own. She was on the top right corner, her body bent in a 'come on' way with wings wide behind her back. The girl was caught with her eyes closed, and her long lashes stuck out beautifully. She wore a small smile, and her cheeks were shaded a little for the effects of a light blush that all the kids had when they were young. Her hair flowed freely and had a fluid feeling.

Shadow was engulfed in darkness while the girl looked as if she were shining. The picture depict of an angel pulling her friend out from the darkness and welcoming him into the light, where he belonged.

Sonic worked hard on the hands and even tried to model it with his own hands before resuming to finish the piece. In the middle of the process, he realized how thick his strokes were compared to when he started. Switching another pencil, the artistic hero refocused.

The azure hedgehog leaned back and studied his work for any mistakes or anything he forgot. Not anything that he knew of. '_I need to name this…'_ Sonic thought. Then, it hit him. Shadow still hasn't recovered from the loss of her existence. If he were back in time, the girl would be the light he needed to guide him.

In big letters, Sonic's gloved hand gripped the pencil lightly and let the graphite scratch on the paper. In cursive letters were, _I saw Light._

"Who's that?" Amy asked, peeking over his shoulder.

"Shadow's first friend," Sonic responded, a soft smile made its way unconsciously to his lips.

"That's so cute…" she whispered.

Sonic chuckled, "Hey, so are you," and he wrapped an arm around Amy.

"You should show it to him. He'd be happy to be able to relive a moment in his past."

"I'm not really sure…I don't want him to be mad at me or anything for reminding him of such a painful past."

"Well…it's your decision."  
Sonic sighed and looked up at the screen. Only 11 more hours left. Sheesh…it took him two hours? And he didn't even notice…Then he realized something. It started getting darker and darker outside the window. He looked at the screen again. They were approaching the hole.

Rouge tapped him on the shoulder. "What?" Sonic asked while taking a sip from his forgotten coke.

"Look at this," Rouge shoved her phone in front of Sonic and snickered. He saw pictures of Shadow. "He doesn't know I have these."

The hedgehog almost blasted his drink out of his mouth. "I didn't know Shadow had those kinds of dresses," Sonic whispered to Rouge, who was scrolling through her secret collection of pictures that Shadow would never have forgiven Rouge for taking. "And Chaos, those skirts are short!"

"Yeah, I know. Hey, mind switching seats with me for a while? I want to show Amy these pictures and talk to her about something."

Sonic agreed and swapped seats with Rouge. When he sat down with a sigh, Shadow turned towards him. Sonic returned the gaze but couldn't help but remember the pictures he'd just seen earlier and snicker.

"What do you want?" the black hedgehog's eyelids lowered and a small frown settled comfortably on his muzzle.

"Nothin' much," replied Sonic as he stretched. He studied the person across from him. A black earphone covered one ear and the other was halfway covered to hear what's happening.

Shadow sighed, "Whatever. Go to sleep or something. Time passes faster. I'll call you up if there's an announcement."

Can't argue with that. Ten minutes slipped painfully slow. How long will eleven hours feel? Going to sleep would be best. But hearing faint sounds coming from Shadow's earphones sparked his curiosity and it couldn't be ignored. "Do you happen to have two earplugs on that iPod?" the possibility was slim, since he'd never seen a phone that had two plugs, but hey, this is Shadow the Hedgehog you're talking about. Working for G.U.N. can earn you some pretty cool stuff.

Said hedgehog nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Can I plug mine in?"

"I'm 'emo' as you call it."

"Pssh, all music is good on their own levels. Yours couldn't be that bad."

"Suit yourself."

A new song began just as he plugged in his earphones and slid them on. _Down you fell deep into your mind, off to Wonderland, leaving what's real behind…_

This was a pretty good song to fall asleep to. The consciousness should slip slowly if he kept on listening to it. _You're a riddle I can't seem to read, your love a fairytale, too hard to believe…_Then it broke into the chorus, which was blasted pretty loud. Sonic jumped inwardly a little as his relaxed state was broken. _Broken and sad, as the tarnish on your crown. Nowhere to go, but down._ As the loud music played, his ears adjusted to the volume and he felt good for some reason. Shadow does have pretty good music…

_Caught up in yourself, nowhere to be found. No other way but down…down, down, DOWN…Say farewell to what's real, like the pain that you feel._

The chorus went on, but then it trailed off back to the soothing deep voice. Yep, he could sure fall asleep.

The words and electric guitar faded as his eyelids closed on its own. The muffled booms from the drums in the song was all that he heard as he fell asleep.

After the song ended and another three songs were done playing, Shadow turned and looked at his doppelganger sitting next to him sound asleep, with his earphones a little crooked. He smiled inwardly. It made him feel calmer than usual, adding a little hint of satisfying feeling. Shadow looked out the window again. It's completely black. He was about to doze off as well before feeling the fur next to him shake and he turned to find a shivering hedgehog.

_Hedgehog's cold…_Shadow thought.

Rouge didn't take the provided blanket from the seat pocket when she left. The ebony spike ball looked over Sonic. Their friends were all asleep. Seeing that, he took the blanket and ripped the wrapping open, cloaking the sleeping hedgie next to him. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with putting a blanket over himself as well (so he wouldn't have to use that much Chaos Energy to keep himself warm) he repeated his earlier actions and wrapped himself in the cozy fabric.

Shadow returned his attention to his iPod and cut off the current song he had on and scrolled through his play list. Shadow only had this song because it reminded him of someone. Someone that Sonic had drawn not too long ago…

The slow lullaby of Reach for the Stars sung by a female played and rang both the hedgehogs' ears. It was soothing.

With that off his mind, Shadow laid back and relaxed. However, there was still something bothering him. He looked over at the hero's hand. It was right there…even if he held it, Sonic wouldn't notice, right?

Shadow covered the hand with the fabric and reached for it under the covers. Feeling the warmth seeping through both gloves, Shadow relaxed completely, and he fell asleep to the soft sounds of the hero's snores and lullaby.

**Lullaby: watch?v=FO2h-QK-fA4**

**Where's my Wonderland: watch?v=11g-L3CGcoU**


	4. Traveling Dreams

Chapter 4: Traveling Dreams

_I'm confused and happy._

_ I was being dragged by a hedgehog everywhere, hearing his childish laughters echo in my head. We played hand games, hide-and-seek, tag…We talked for a long time. We raced. We collapsed next to each other in a plain when we got tired._

_ Why am I so happy with this hedgehog? Do I know him?_

_ My mind went back to the race. It was a tie when we ended it…wasn't I supposed to be the fastest thing alive? Yeah…there's only one person who can catch up to me like that…Shadow?_

_ Just as the riddle was solved, the laughing and smiling kid faded and was replaced with a cold looking hedgehog. His eyes were menacing and full of hatred. He looked ready to kill. This must be the Shadow when he had just experienced Maria's death…his one friend…his first and best, and perhaps last._

_ He dissolved into the air. Someone tapped me behind my back. I whirled around._

_ "Shadow?"_

_ "Faker."_

_ Shadow grabbed my hand and ran. I was suddenly night. So we ran under the bright moon, surrounded by glowing flowers that blooms in the night._

_ Us, the two distant spiky shadows under the moon shuffled through the dark green grass, carried by the wind._

_ He stopped by a tree, hopping on it. I hauled myself up next to him._

_ No words were exchanged as we took in the beautiful sight before us, the bright, full moon beaming down at the lake under it. Thousands of fireflies darted around like little moving stars._

_ The next few moments was a blur. All I can remember is that Shadow and I got really close…and…and…_

_ It's no use. I can't figure it out. However, when I blinked and opened my eyes once again, he was gone, and so was the moon, lake, and little dancing lightning bugs, Instead, it was replaced with a garden of flowers. The scent was sweet, but after sniffing it for two minutes, I became dizzy._

_ Just then, a female hedgehog in a black hank top with a hot pink miniskirt came from behind a rose bush. Her emerald gaze similar to mine was awfully familiar._

_ "A-Am—" I started, but she hugged me before I could finish her name._

_ "I know you're having a hard time…but I'm just wondering who you're going to choose…me…or him…?"_

_ And then, I wasn't able to control myself. My mind flew everywhere. A series of pictures from different scenes appeared and disappeared in a quarter of a millisecond, switching to a new one as soon as it had appeared. It ended with me back on the tree with Shadow, and our hands laced together._

Green eyes snapped open. He was back on the Universal Airline with his friends…wearing his headphone, listening to Shadow's music…

His hand felt particularly warm. It was comforting. What was it…? It certainly wasn't the blanket that had magically appeared on top of him…

Sonic lifted up the cover and peered under it. Shadow's firm grip tightened as Sonic shifted a little. The blue spike ball sweatdropped. But as soon as it ended, he felt his cheeks warm up.

_ Maybe the covers were unnecessary. _And he lifted them off. As soon as he did, cold air hit his bare skin. _Nope. That's not it._ And put the covers back to place.

He looked over at the sleeping counterpart. Like the time before, he couldn't tear his gaze away. Shadow's fluffy chest rose up and down to the rhythm of his slow breathing, his eyelids fluttering slightly once in a while. He let out low, barely audible snores that slipped out of his smooth tan lips. His fingers let go slightly of Sonic's hand before wrapping them around it again for a better grip.

Ding! An inspiration started painting itself in Sonic's mind. He needed his sketchbook…but they were still back at his old seat. Slowly, he got up and walked towards Rouge and Amy. Then he stopped. Shadow was still holding on his hand. Sonic bit his lip and thought for a moment before peeling the stubborn fingers slowly off from his hand. Shadow's hand fell and landed with a small thump. It was limp, but it had a certain stiffness that it didn't have before.

_It's okay. It's not like I'm not returning or anything._ He reached over Rouge and slipped the sketchbook from between the sleeping hedgehog and bat, pausing between the times when they groaned and flipped around in their seat.

Tip toeing back, and sat down back in his still warm seat next to his companion. It's a good thing he had outer seats…or else that would've been a real pain sneaking back and forth. (knowing Sonic he'd just wake everybody up)

Now that he was covered with the warm with body heat blanket, Sonic pulled out the table tray once again and clicked the dim lights option from the switch on his arm rest. As he was about to draw, the inspiration wasn't as strong anymore. Just as a test, his hand snaked back to the stiff hand. Shadow relaxed, and the other's peach lips stretched into a smile.

_Sonic and I promised each other, the day after he realized that I wasn't dead from the ARK incident where I gave him my power ring. We'll never let go of each other, and always watch each others' back._

_ It sounded like a promise that only couples would make. I didn't like that fact, it made me uncomfortable, but I don't want to see him bothering me every day. So I agreed…_

_ And that leads to the time where we went on a quest to foil Dr. Eggman's plans for taking over the city again. We went through forests…went through many traps…but we stuck together, like the promise we made. But…it didn't last as long as we'd planned._

_ We were separated, and we let go of each others' hands unwillingly. Dammit._

_ I was then alone in the darkness, all alone, the cold wind and emptiness ate away at me slowly. My body turned stiff. I don't want to move…I don't want to move at all. I don't want to breathe…_

_ A familiar gloved hand appeared in front of me. I traced the hand to its owner. Peach arms, chest…Blue fur…grassy eyes…confident smile._

_ "Sonic."_

_ "Whatcha waitin' for? Come on Shads."_

_ I grabbed his hand, and he tightened his grip. We ran and ran, raced to freedom and happiness and light._

_ The promise wasn't broken after all._

Unconsciously smiling, Shadow's eyes fluttered open. Outside the plane was still very dark, but it was brighter than before. He sat up, and Sonic averted his eyes from what he was working on to the awakened sleeping beauty.

"Heya," greeted Sonic.

"Is that me?" Shadow blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes. His eyes focused.

"Oh…uhm. Yeah, I guess…" Sonic looked away from Shadow and wouldn't meet his gaze again. He took the sketchbook off the tray table and hugged it, as if it were private. Which, just might be the case.

During the process of hiding the drawing, Sonic had hauled Shadow's hand along with him, forgetting the fact that they were still holding hands. Peach muzzle turned redder and he quickly muttered an apology and let go.

Shadow didn't reply.

**Okay, I decided to cut off there. Aww...what's gonna happen during ze awkward momento? Next chapter will come soon...Throw me some ideas by PMing me if ya wanna...That'll let me update faster...**

Sonic: Gotta go fast!

Shuddap.


	5. Him

Okay guys. Sorry for not updating. I've just had a writer's block, and I couldn't think of anything. Now that my dad just came to America from China, I could ask him some questions about the airport thing and not have to search everything and mess up. Motivation came back! (just a bit...)

**This is a fill-in chapter. Nothing much important in here...Gomen. TT^TT**

Chapter 5: Him

The food was absolutely horrible. I mean, the eggs here taste like boxes…The noodles taste like paper. The rice is just…um, if I describe any more of these stuff I think I'm going to be sick. The only things I could stand was the yogurt and fruit, which isn't really in my food zone.

I just wonder if I'll get so desperate to actually eat the tray. Maybe my seat.

I turned to Shadow, and I know he noticed me because he sighed and stopped eating temporarily and slapped a pack of pretzels in my hand.

Seeing that I looked at it with uncertainty like, 'I don't think this is enough' he pulled out a small backpack underneath his seat. Shadow handed me a bag of cookies.

I raised an eyeridge. "Rouge made me pack it. Just in case. And by case, apparently, that's you," he replied, turning back to his tray of foul flavored food.

"Well," I muttered, "Thanks…"

After that, I just sat and ate my snack, listening to Shadow's music, and started thinking.

Blank.

My mind is producing nothing. Man, his music sure is brainwashing…I could get used to this.

Nothing interesting happened in the next few seconds, minutes, hours. The awkwardness and silence poked and bothered me nonstop until I gave in.

"Are you excited? To g to Japan, I mean," I questioned.

"I guess. We're created there, were we not?" he replied.

I nodded slowly. But nothing more came. I shifted uncomfortably. "Uhm…" I don't think he heard me. It was so low, I couldn't even hear myself.

His right hand twitched, and my mind went back to when we held hands. _Why did I return mine to his? I could've just left it alone…But it made me feel off. So…it's probably because I was cold, then…I did feel pretty warm after that. But…it's not that, was it?_

"Faker," Shadow said. "You're staring at my hand. What's so interesting?"

"Wh-wha? Oh, nothing. Sorry. Mind just blanked out and I just so happened to be looking that way," I answered, telling half the truth and half a lie. I turned away.

_But if he were to be so quick to pull away when I woke up…does that mean that he doesn't like me? Like, at all? But then why did he hold it in the first place…Ah, he probably did it when he was asleep. Needed a thing to grasp, that's all._

_…Right? But if he doesn't like me, then…who DOES he like? Rouge? Possibly. But that's none of my business. Why should I care? I'm not in charge of his love-life, or certain things or people he likes._

_ Then why am I so curious…_

Something bumped my arm. Shadow. I ignored it. It was probably an accident.

But he nudged me again, and I faced him. "What?"

"Don't stare at strangers. It's impolite," he answered flatly. "You seem off."

I barely heard anything as my thought blocked out everything. I merely nod, staring off into space. _Because I care. I care about him…do I not?_

_ …I do…but as a friend. He's awesome._

Happy with my answer, I left the topic alone and checked the time on the mini screen. Whew…Six more hours…I feel like I'm being trapped. The air is too muffling, and I feel like I'm being suffocated very slowly.

Quickly, my gaze locked onto the window next to Shadow. It was a dark blue. I let out a sigh and released the breath I didn't know I was holding. No wonder I couldn't breathe.

XXX

Normal POV

So, after the gang woke up, Rouge and Sonic switched seats again, and Amy was back to hugging Sonic's arm as Rouge was back to talking to Shadow in low voices. Everything was back to normal.

Yet it wasn't.

Sonic was a little disappointed that he had to switch back again. Couldn't he spend a little more time with his new (kind of) friend? That ebony beauty…he was warm when he touched him…it was comforting. However, Amy seemed to be giving off that sort of feeling as well…what could he do?

Shadow, on the other hand, was relived, but also a little depleted. Without the blue blur annoying him constantly, his energy seemed to seep away like air from a balloon with a small, small hole. Hopefully Rouge wouldn't notice it.

Amy was still snickering a bit as she remembered seeing Shadow covered by whip cream on Rouge's phone. Seems like the bat really likes to mess with him.

Rouge…well, she was just wondering what happened when she fell asleep with Amy. What did the hero and his counterpart do? Argue? Have a small fight? Shadow ignoring the other? What? _Don't tell me they spilled drinks on each other. I left my orange juice…_

Something in the corner of his eye caught the black hedgehog's attention. Sonic had left his sketch book here…

_I shouldn't snoop around other people's possessions. _But he wanted to. He saw that Faker hide it when his gaze settled on the book for just a second. The mind just worked that way. They need to discover whatever is being hidden to them…

_But there's always this saying, "Some things are better left unknown."_ But…Sonic wouldn't draw something (or write) so bad that it was meant to only be known to him, right?

He made up his mind and fished the sketch book from behind Rouge and out of the crack of the seat. His finger carefully handled the pages and flipped through some pages.

Quiet a few people showed up. Tails, Amy and Knuckles, along with himself were the most frequent in there. However, there was also the occasional drawing of Blaze, Silver and Rouge, maybe a few of Cream and Cheese. However, as he flipped more and more, he saw himself show up. He was with Rouge…

Flip.

_I saw Light._

_What?_ Shadow thought. _This is…Maria._

Shadow stared in disbelief. Even though it wasn't the most accurate drawing of her, it was pretty darned close, and it brought out the old, pained emotion again. However, the drawing was touching. The dark hedgehog felt a slight shiver go up his spine as he studied the drawing. It was…Sonic actually…knew how he felt…how strange.

Shadow proceeded to flip the page.

It was labeled, _Guilt._ Studying it closer out of confusion, he saw himself sleeping, his face turned a little toward the person who was drawing him—Sonic. In the picture, his mouth was slightly agape, and his eyes were closed lightly. The eyelashes weren't long, but they weren't too short either.

He was just about to flip the page, but he stopped in mid-turn. There was this little detail in the corner of the page…it was…hmm…it looked familiar.

Red eyes widened a little. It was when they were holding hands. _No wonder the lines were a bit wobbly…he couldn't tilt the paper or hold it in place. That blue hedgehog actually held my hand while drawing…and he didn't let go at all. What does he mean…?_

"Shadow," Rouge whispered.

"..." Shadow didn't reply and stayed in his reverie.

"Shadow," repeated the bat. This time, she shook him a little.

"Uh…?" the black hedgehog let out an embarrassing sound. "What?"

"I've been thinking."

"Okay."

"Do you like someone?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Rouge closed her eyes. And when she opened them, she was completely turned toward Shadow, and she stared at him with serious eyes. "I'm not joking. I'm your supposed 'sister' and I know when something's wrong. Do you think I haven't noticed how much you've been zoning out? You're making these ungraceful moves as well. Either you're confused, or you've just banged your head against the airplane wall too many times and too hard. I think you're confused."

Shadow simply shook his head. "Maybe this time, you're wrong."

The albino bat paused. Then her eyes started to grow dark. "I might be," she said. "But I'd still like to be wrong than to not bother at all."

"If you want an answer that bad, why not ask someone else?"

"I'm the closest to you Shadow. If I don't know, who else?"

Shadow sighed and turned away. "Him," he whispered, barely audible.

She stopped and held her breath, half expecting Shadow to continue talking so low. No response after that. Instead, the hedgehog pointed out the window at the dark blue sky.

"Him," Rouge said, understanding.


	6. Crashing at the Hoteru

**Hey guys. I just want to thank you people so much for supporting me through the story with amazing reviews, even if they were just fill in chapters and the Sonadow is barely just happening. Thank you guys. Really.**

**Shadow: Stop sugar coating everything.**

**I'm not!**

**Shadow: Liar.**

**Pfft, whatever. Here's the next chapter of Romance in Japan. Finally, they get off the freaking plane and arrive at Japan…**

Chapter 6: Crashing at the Hoteru

Ding. "Passengers. We are so glad you took the Universal Airline. We will be landing in about twenty minutes, so we ask of you to please shut off the electronics. Thank you, and we'll see you in a while." Dong.

Shadow took this as a signal to shut off his ipod. Tails shut down his small laptop as well, which he'd brought out after the small incident with the tangled hands. Rouge clicked her phone off as well.

The twenty minutes slipped by slowly. Sonic was so jumpy he felt like he was going to die if he didn't get off soon. So, he decided to look around—for the hundredth time—and let his mind wander.

Amy. Next to him. Clinging onto his arm. Smiling sweetly at him…

Knuckles. Arms folded, legs crossed over each other. Closed eyes with some kind of annoyed and serious expression on his face.

Tails. Completely still. Staring ahead. Eyes blank. Seems like he's thinking of too many things at the same time.

Other people…

_Nope, that's about it._ Sonic thought. Amy cuddled him a little more and distracted him.

"What?" asked Sonic, confused by why she was so intimate.

"This counts as the first time I get to cuddle you in Japan, doesn't it?" she giggled.

"Oh. Yeah, you're right," he muttered. For some reason, he just felt…empty. It doesn't sound as exciting as before, being able to spend time with the girl he loved. Everyone's had this feeling before. It's when you like the thing that's being offered, but just consider them annoying at the time being and wanting to just block them out. A good example is friends, like when they're all squeaky and won't shut up. You just want them to leave you alone.

Noticing the nonchalant tone in his voice, the teenager inspected her boyfriend with curious and worried eyes. She leaned closer and whispered, "What's wrong Sonic?"

Sonic stared ahead, seemingly not hearing Amy. But after a few seconds, he blinked and shook his head lightly, shrugging off whatever was concerning the other. "…Nothing. Don't worry Ames, I'm fine." He tried for a smile. Yep, that seemed to do the trick.

The airplane bell rang again and this time, some female flight attendants came out from corridors and handed each person a slip. Every time they hand one, they say sweetly, "This is the entry form. Please fill out these blanks…"

"Gaaaw, do I _have_ to fill this out? The _whole thing_?" whined the azure hero.

"Yes, now don't be so whiney," said Knuckles. "I'm not helping you."

"Don't be so mean. I'll help you." Amy said, while giving the echidna a small shove on the arm.

Distinct conversations were muttered throughout the whole plane as the parents filled out the slips and the kids asked what they were for. Sonic thanked Amy and tried to understand how thing worked. He didn't know why, but he felt like he wanted to be alone after all this time. Amy was getting a little in his face, even though he knew it was just himself.

XXX

Sonic was confused. Of course, he was excited to finally get off the plane, but he didn't know that he was supposed to hand the slip to an officer, which needed to be stamped…and why did the officer have to keep the slip? It was too confusing.

But wait, it gets better. You need to go to a 'luggage center' where you'll need to keep an eye out for your suitcases and things you brought…Are all airports like this?

…Yeppidydoo. He's gonna have to get used to this if Amy likes to travel.

When they'd finally gotten out of the airport with several fussing from all of the members, they got two taxis, four people each. To balance everything out, Shadow was sitting in the front seat of a taxi while Sonic, Blaze and Tails were in the back. That left Silver, Knuckles, Rouge and Amy on the other. Turns out, Shadow has some sort of translator chip implanted somewhere in himself, and he did most of the talking to where they needed to go and translating information. Rouge knew some from Shadow, not as fluent and accurate, but enough to be understood. She was the living translator in the other taxi.

In both vehicles, it was quiet with only the occasional bumps that shifted the luggage in the trunk and some crammed in the backseat that made a little bit of noise. Nothing much happened. Sonic wasn't too sure of how he was going to survive a whole month in Japan (I actually forgot how long they were staying…) if it's always going to be so quiet like this. Hopefully Amy doesn't go silent because of the foreign language and start trying to win him over with Japanese and calling him 'Oh, Sonnikku-chang!' He appreciated that she was trying and is into the relationship very much, but too much is just too much. He didn't want to tell her, though, so he just tried showing small signs that tells her to lay off a little. But, being the over hyper and perky teenage girl, she never noticed.

Suddenly, the taxi car stopped, and Sonic's body was jerked forward.

"Sorry." the taxi driver said with an accent, with the R's sounding like an L.

The blue blur was just going to sit back again, when he realized how soft the head cushion in front of him was. It was fluffy and warm and comfy and…

Wait, wait, wait. Isn't that…Shadow's fur?

The blue hog's emerald eyes snapped open against its will. Since he was sitting in the middle seat in the back row, his head easily slipped into the crook of his counterpart's shoulder and head, his nose slightly touching the small patch of pure, white fur. Soft, warm…comfy white fur…

Shadow didn't bother shaking the other off of his shoulder. There was a possibility that Sonic was sleeping, or it might just be that he couldn't take sudden stops and he couldn't recover as fast as he runs. It makes more sense that he was just sleeping…since there was no chance of the hero snuggling on his shoulder on purpose.

Sonic, on the other hand, was confused. He had just described his rival as soft, warm, and comfortable. Another thing that nagged at his mind at the moment was that Shadow didn't even shove him away. Is he even aware of the fact that he was on him right now? Slight possibility of that.

Shadow was partially right, though, after a few minutes. The blue hedgehog was too caught up in the comfortable 'pillow' that he soon drifted off to sleep. The two remained like that, something way too similar to the time on the airplane.

'Déjà vu…' thought the black and red lifeform as he looked out the window to distract himself from the gentle fluttering feeling in his chest.

XXX

A rough shove and the connecting of the cold side of the car woke Sonic up. "Sonic! We're here!" Tails said, jabbing at Sonic some more to make sure he was fully awake.

With a groan, the speedster sat up properly and got out of the car when Blaze, to his right, got out. His cheeks were still warm from the five star head-rest. It was then he realized that Shadow was already out of the car, heading towards the hotel carrying two bags, one black that was clearly his, and another purse that had tropical colors bleeding everywhere, which, Sonic figured was the thief's.

He distractively picked up his bag and followed suit, scanning over the whole hotel. It looked like a normal big building you would see every day, just a little bit fancier.

As they walked past the two big glass doors, they were greeted with a big fountain in the middle of the room. The floors were so clean you could see your reflection in it. There were counters on both sides, with a few people checking in and checking out. The corners of the room had four trees, one on each corner. A few couches and small tables were laid on top of carpets which were at the very end of the check in room.

The eight of them walked over to the counters and waited in line behind a small girl and someone older who seemed like her dad.

Once the two were done, Tails explained how much people there were and how many rooms they needed and such. Tails took the four pairs of cards. The second one was a back-up card in case someone lost one or doesn't have it at the moment.

Thanking the woman at the counter, Tails and the rest of the group walked up to the elevator with the kitsune passing the cards to three other people. Tails arranged the people sharing the rooms with the little time he had in the elevator and his results were that he and Silver shared a room, Sonic and Knuckles were together, the three girls sharing a room, and Shadow by himself. Said hedgehog didn't mind.

When they were just about to split up, Tails made sure one more time. "Sonic, you and Knuckles' room is 405, right?"

The two nodded. "Yep."

"Amy, you, Rouge and Blaze's is…410. Correct?"

Blaze nodded. "Yeah. 410."

"Shadow, yours is 406…"

He unfolded his arms, which he had been doing since the time they were in the elevator. "Yes."

"And Tails and I are in room 408!" Silver said, taking the spare card from Tails.

The group all took a step in their room's direction. "Oh," the twin tailed fox said. "We'll check out the hotel when we wake up next morning."

When they all agreed, they left, getting into their rooms. Just when Shadow was about to get to his door, he bumped into someone and, slightly ungracefully, took a step back. He grunted. What idiot didn't have eyes?

Feeling oddly cold, Shadow looked at the hedgehog who bumped into him. He had an interesting design, his white quills pointed in a spiraling fashion with blue bangs hanging carelessly over his forehead and a little of his left eye. He wore a dark colored scarf, a grayish white leather jacket, and a black tank underneath. His long black boots with lace covered his snow white legs. "Heh, sorry," the stranger muttered. When he picked up his duffle bag, he slung it over his shoulder and held out his other hand. "Not the ideal way to introduce myself, but I'm Brisk."

Shadow, not wanting to be impolite, forced himself to shake his. "Shadow." When their hands touched, instead of feeling the warmth of another mobian, he felt coldness.

He must've flinched, because Brisk chuckled and said, "Sorry, I'm pretty much always cold. See?" He pointed his index finger out and small snow flakes swirled around it, slow and gracefully. "Well, anyway, sorry for the incoincidence. Nice to meet you, though, Shadow."

The darker of the two nodded, inserted his card into the key slot, and went into his room, mind blank.

**Asakjfdksajdlkasjl. Friggin OC alert. I didn't want to, but no one really suggested any fancharacter to me so I had to make it myself…TT^TT If you guys want to know what he looks like, I'll post a picture of him on my DeviantArt account. (PercyJacksonRules123 to those of you who don't know) Anyway, I'll describe the room and the hotel in the next chapter. I just feel so horrible for not updating for so long. (I don't even remember for how long…) See you guys next time in chapter 7, hopefully soon…**

**SIDE NOTE: I forgot what the Japanese hotels looked like, so I'm basing it on my very fuzzy memory and the internet and my imagination. If it's not accurate at all, please don't flame it…I really don't know…**


	7. Footbath

Chapter 7: Footbath

Sonic woke up. He still wasn't really used to the hotel since he always stayed outside.

The soft crimson sheets covering him were half on the floor and half hanging by his leg, the white sheets under him are slightly wrinkly from his weight. Half the number of pillows landed on the floor, but they were still white. The walls were a nice and traditional white-ish cream color. The rug underneath them was a mix between red and orange. Across from the two double beds was a long counter made out of dark polished wood with a cushioned chair with a striped design pushed in the space between its legs. Next to it was a metal safe. And next to that, was a floor lamp. On the right of all that was finally the window to add a little natural light to the room. It had those Japanese style windows made out of wood and rice paper. On that side of the room also had two comfortable looking cushioned seats with a small square table in between, already set up with two tea cups made of glass and several back-up paper cups on the side. A few packs of tea were stacked on the side as well. A small lamp hangs from the ceiling above the small relaxing spot with the view of another building across, and with a view of a busy street below spotted with trees.

Huffing, he sat up and jumped out of bed. First official day at Japan, it should be a clean, fresh start.

"Yo, Knuckles, wake up," the blue hog chirped, shaking the earlier addressed echidna. "First day in Japan, better not sleep in."

Knuckles didn't move a bit, so Sonic just decided to keep on poking him and saying, "Knux, Knux, Knux, Knux, Knux!" He was enjoying this quite a bit.

Well, at least before a spiked hand met his face in one smooth movement and sent the other falling flat on his back into his own bed. His sharp quills almost made cuts in the sheets, if not for the hedgehog blunting his quills at the last half millisecond.

"I get it," muttered Knuckles, getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom.

After both getting ready and freshening up, the stood at the mirror on the side wall, near the door. Blue and red reflected off the mirror, and it caught a glint of pearly white teeth. "Both lookin' pretty sharp, eh?" said Sonic, grinning, as he bumped the other on the arm.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." He tried to hide his smile, but did poorly as they walked out the door.

Sonic skipped over to room 406 and knocked. "You ready, Shads?"

There was no response on the other side. After a few more seconds, the door opened and a slightly damp hedgehog walked out, a light sheet of steam seeming to surround him. _Hot damn_, Sonic muttered in his mind. _He looks sexier than I thought…_

Slightly flustered at the sudden thought, the azure whirl wind looked around awkwardly, trying to avoid the 'hot zone.' Shadow's husky yet careless response brought him back. "Yeah, ready."

Just when they were about to go down the hall, the door next to Shadow's room opened and a blue and white mobian walked out. "Hey, Shadow. You're going? I was just going to go downstairs. Can I join your group?" He wore the exact same thing he did yesterday. Gray-white jacket, dark purple scarf, black tank inside, and laced black combat boots. Shadow didn't know if it was just him, but he could've sworn he saw a certain glint in that hedgehog's deep purple eyes that are just a shade lighter than his scarf.

"Sure." The black and red male said.

Sonic's smile widened. "Heh-hey! You've been making new friends without us? I feel so offended!"

As those two talked, Knuckles went and knocked on the rooms his friends were in and told them they were going downstairs for a quick breakfast. They all agreed to meet down there later.

After that, the four walked down the hall, introducing themselves.

XXX

Shadow looked away uneasily as he brought his toast—covered in Japan's Peanut Soft—to his lips and bit off another piece, making a slight _crunch_ sound.

The two hedgehogs kept glancing at the black male. The sound of every bite sounded so heavenly, anyone would've wanted to take a chomp out of it. Or, rather, the guy himself…

Sonic's breakfast was a plate of toast covered in American's traditional Skippy peanut butter with a cup of creamy orange drink with bits of peaches floating inside. (it didn't taste as weird as it looked) It was pretty simple.

Brisk was slightly different. He had regular bread and a cup of iced tea with a few strawberries on the side.

Knuckles had a bowl of miso soup and a bagel with fresh blueberries sticking onto the layer of cream he'd smothered the bagel with. He had regular water.

Shadow, however, was a completely different story. He had already eaten three pieces of toast covered with the same sugary peanut butter. On his plate sat a section of fruits, and a small muffin next to it. To help the food down, he had an iced orange juice on the side. It was much more sugary and held more calories than the others.

Soon after, the rest of the group got downstairs and met up and quickly took a seat at the table next to the four after getting their breakfast. Everyone was pretty happy, chattering away and discussing what they wanted to do.

When Amy came over, Knuckles immediately stood up and left for the other table. He knew the girl wanted to sit next to her boyfriend and he respected that, but mostly because he didn't want to hear the sickly sweet voice of hers, masking the obvious irritation.

"Hey Sonic," she said as she smoothed out her dress from behind to make sure the short dress was tucked around her legs and sat down.

"Mornin'," the blue hedgehog smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Gosh, it's the first day in Japan! I wonder what we're going to do…" the girl giggled and took a bite from her jelly covered toast. "Mmm, the toast here is really good!"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Awkward. What else does he say now? He panicked a little. He always knew what to say. Why can't he do it now?

Then, his eyes averted to Brisk. He seemed to be inching slightly closer to Shadow, who was also in a very awkward position. Part of Sonic felt pity, another part felt relief since he wasn't the only one, and part of him felt…anger. It was very subtle, but he felt uneasy. Brisk wasn't in the black one's personal space, but it just seemed a little too close for a friend he's just met. Sure, maybe they've hit off really good, but that would be very shocking since Shadow never really talks much to anyone who approaches him, much less 'friendly.'

Shaking his head, he returned his attention back to his girlfriend. "You know, I was thinking if we could take the first day easy since we might have a little jet lag. I'm not really sure what the time difference is, but I don't feel like going crazy today. You want to hang around?"

"Oh, sure! I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do today. Maybe we could learn a little Japanese together so we don't always have to rely on Rouge and Shadow. You know, because it's a little tiring to always translate everything for a whole group of eight people."

Sonic smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sounds like a plan."

Just when the blue hedgehog was about to leave the table, he froze for a millesecond. Didn't that mean Brisk could have Shadow all to himself…? No. No, he's over-thinking it. Of course Brisk wouldn't like Shadow. Chances are, he's straight.

When he cleaned up his mess, he walked towards the elevator for going upstairs to Amy's room. On the way up, he went over to Shadow and tapped him on the shoulder. "Be careful not to get fat, sugar." He winked and laughed at the pun he made.

Sonic saw Brisk smirk. "Nice one," he heard him say. The green eyed hero just laughed without turning around. When Amy caught up to him, he held hands with her and disappeared into the elevator when the doors closed.

Shadow felt a little empty, now that his doppelganger's joke has worn off. Thankfully, the mostly white hedgehog was there to distract him a little. Or is that not a good thing?

"He's taken?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm…"

Shadow looked at him strangely. "Why?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious. Well, I'm going to introduce myself to the rest of your friends now." The little pat on the back sent shivers down Shadow's back. Geez, does he have an off button where he has a normal temperature…?

XXX

After studying simple greetings and sentences like, 'where is the restroom', the couple laid back and started testing each other.

"Okay, how do you say good morning?" Amy asked.

"Uh…oheyo…gozaimasu?" Sonic half-asked, half-answered.

Amy laughed softly. "Close. It's ohayo gozaimasu."

"Oy…alright. I'll work on that. Your turn. What's sweet dreams?" asked the blue blur.

"It's...it sounds like English, right? Suu ito dorimu?"

Sonic smiled. "Correct."

The pink hedgehog yawed. "Speaking of which, I'm a little tired. Mind if I sleep for a bit?"

Saying his approval, he half sat/laid down next to his now napping little angel.

Just when he was about to doze off as well, a knock sounded at the door and his eyes snapped open again. Slightly annoyed, he got out of bed and opened the door. "What's up…" he muttered, then, seeing who it was, he woke up fully. "Oh. What's up, bro?"

He looked at Sonic with his big baby blue eyes sheepishly. "Sorry if I woke you. Anyway, Brisk has been here in Japan for a while and he told us that we could have some kind of foot bath near out hotel. Like, really near. We can just walk there. Except, we kind of need to wear kimonos. It's in the closets here…" he pushed the mirror next to the door sideways, and a small closet made out of wood was hidden behind it.

"Ooooohhhh…alright. Well, who's going?"

"Brisk—of course—Shadow, Silver and I are, along with you, too, if you're going."

Sonic could've sworn his heart tripped for a millesecond when he heard a certain name mentioned by Tails. He shook his head mentally. "Sure. Meet at the lobby?"

Tails smiled and nodded. "See ya later!"

Right when his twin-tailed friend closed the door and was probably a good few feet away from his door, he realized that he never got to ask how to put it on.

He stared at the kimono.

XXX

Tails and all the others were already at the lobby when Sonic arrived. His kimono was draped over his arm.

Just before Tails could ask him why his wasn't on, Sonic answered it for him. "I don't know how to put it on."

"Chaos, Sonic, you should've just told me that before I left!" said Tails.

Sonic scratched his head. "Yeah…I forgot to right when you left."

The twin tailed kitsune shook his head and laughed. "Silver, you know how to put it on, right?"

The albino hedgehog nodded, and helped Sonic out as they walked to their destination, which was only about 150 feet away from the hotel.

"There," Silver hummed as he brushed off some of the dust on Sonic's kimono. Said hero looked down at himself and felt a little silly wearing it. The blue flowery patterns imprinted on the white fabric just didn't seem like something he would ever wear. After all, he rarely wears any clothes.

However, when he turned to all the others they didn't look too bad. _Huh. Guess it's just me and my mind, then._

Sonic refused to let his gaze linger on a certain dark furred handsome beauty.

Brisk sat next to Shadow, who sat next to Sonic, who sat next to Tails, who sat next to Silver. The foot bath was like a warm pool of water kept in by a ring of smoothed granite, where the people would sit on while letting the warm water relax themselves. The bottom of the footbath were laid with dark, smooth, and small rocks which was used as a natural massage because of the smooth bumps it had.

Brisk laughed as he dipped his feet in the warm water. "Remember how I said I'm pretty much always cold? Well, this is probably the only time I'm warm."

The rest followed suit and either shivered or sighed happily. It felt good and relaxing alright...The slight breeze was the perfect temperature, and it looked like a clear day overall. The sky was a light blue with some parts faded white because of the clouds. The sun blended in with the sky and the white puffs with its light colored rays shining down onto the ground, warming it up. It also made the water in the footbath shine.

Sonic sighed and threw his head back, closing his eyes and enjoying his time out. "Hey Tails?" he murmured contently.

"Yeah?" Tails replied with the same tone.

"Remind me to take footbaths more often...They need to be taken care of more after all that running."

The orange one laughed. "Sure thing."

Silver added a side comment, laughing at Sonic, "I don't even have to walk if I don't want to."

After a little bit more of relaxing, Tails announced that he was going to head inside again. Brisk went in shortly after, too, leaving the outcast, the hero, and the psychic alone.

Sonic got tense after the two left. Sure, there's still Silver, but…look at how close their hands were! The dark one's right hand pinky was less than a centimeter away from Sonic. Less than a centimeter! He didn't know how to react though, as much as he wanted to just at least brush his own pinky past his. Of course, he could make it seem like an accident, but he didn't want to risk it. What if Shadow could tell? Or find it awkward even if it _was_ just an accident? Nope, not doing it.

"I'm done here." Shadow muttered before taking his soaked feet out and slightly shaking to get some of the water droplets off. Then he slipped back into his slippers (that went with the kimono) and headed back into the hotel without another word.

Sonic was just about to follow when Silver stopped him. He bore a smirle. Something between a smirk and a smile. "You have no idea how much fun reading people's minds can be." And with that, he set off towards their hotel as well, leaving Sonic staring at him and figuring out that Silver now knew his embarrassed side and thought.

**GUYS! I have a question. Should I include a lemon? If yes, then I won't have a writer's block for another seven chapters after they confess with each other. If no…well, those seven chapters will not exist, and there will probably lots of problems with ideas for this story. Please give me your opinion! Please? When life gives you lemons…well, you decide. You want a lemon or not? It's sour.**

**AND YES. I know. I haven't updated in almost a month! I'm sorry! D: I can't guarantee that I won't be updating faster, but I can promise you that I'm not ending this. I'm already up to seven chapters! That's the farthest I've gotten in a real story after I got the hang of writing decent fanfics! :D See ya guys next time, then. Bai~~**


	8. Attempts to Read a Mind

Chapter 8: Attempts to Read a Mind

"Silver, you bastard!"

Laughing sounded inside Room 408, where said hedgehog and the genius fox stayed in. "I'm not opening the door."

"Tails? Can you open the door?" Sonic tried, instead. "I have something _very_ important to discuss with Weed Head!"

More laughing. "Tails is in Brisk's room."

This time, Sonic growled. "I'm serious, Silver! If you tell anyone, I'll be ruined! I don't even know if I feel that way!"

"Maybe you should try explaining it to your girlfriend."

"Dude!"

The door suddenly swung open, and Silver stood beside the door, leaning into the frame. "Fine. I understand what you're feeling, blah, blah, blah." Silver rolled his eyes. "But, I'm telling you, you thought it at the wrong time. I can't guarantee that I won't tell."

Sonic felt like he's dying over and over again. Live, die, revive. Live, die, revive.

He must've shown it, because the other put a hand on his shoulder. He wore a smile. "I can make up for it though; see what he thinks about you."

See? The blue hedgehog just got revived again, hopefully, permanently. "Really?" his tone and eyes hopeful.

"Yeah," the albino one replied. "I still don't get what you see in him, though…you know, except for his ass, maybe."

Sonic shoved Silver on the arm and laughed, glad that it was over. "Don't say that."

XXX

**Mind Reading Attempt: 1**

"So, Shadow," started Silver. He had knocked on Shadow's door and gotten rejected twice before he was let in, after they changed out of their temporary kimonos. The black one looked at him expectantly. "How's the trip so far?"

"A day's not even up yet and you're asking me that? What do you expect that I'd tell you?" Shadow's eyes narrowed. "And what's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing, really," Silver replied uneasily. How come the antisocial guy never changes? "So there's nothing that interests you here yet?"

"No."

"At all?"

"No."

"The scenery, the rooms…the people?"

Shadow grunted out of annoyance as a warning. "For the last time, _N-O."_

Silver could've sworn his bladder threatened to give him up and wet his pants. _Quick! Abort mission! Retreat while you still can!_ "Okay, then. Bye."

**Result: Fail.**

**Mind Reading Attempt: 2**

The gang were out in the streets with Tails studying the map and with the rest of the group crowding around the fox, trying to get a better view of the paper. Truly, they looked like a bunch of lost idiots, which wasn't too off from the looks of it.

"Hmm, it seems like we have to make a turn…here," Tails muttered, biting his thumb while trying to figure out the big map spread out in front of him.

"I don't get it. Why do we have to go get clothes anyway? We never wear any," Sonic complained.

Knuckles glanced at the whiney hedgehog. "The owner of the hotel had said specifically. We needed to wear clothes because other people might find it uncomfortable to see a bunch of anthropomorphics not wearing any clothing. After all, we _do_ have a bit of human traits."

Sonic shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. Please don't go all Mr. oh-I'm-going-to-say-scientific-words-just-to-confu se-you guy. You know I can't take that."

"Either way, you won't understand."

"I underst-!"

"Enough, you guys. Look, there's the mall right there. Let's go," said Tails, cutting in between the argument that wasn't going to get any better on its own.

The group of eight walked into the mall and began exploring. They all agreed to meet up by the fast food section after two hours, which was at 4:00 P.M. sharp. And so, while the girls went off to check out the clothes they sold in Japan, the guys were off to see what the mall had in store for them. Sonic and Tails was ahead of Silver and Shadow and were discussing about how excited the fox might be to discover the different technology. The two in the back wasn't as loud and sociable. In fact…Silver was having trouble starting a simple conversation.

He'd already tried to read his mind. It's filled with violent thoughts on how he wanted to shut everyone up in the mall and how the people would react if he brought out a pistol. But most of the time, it was also blank. Silver was surprised, annoyed, and impressed at the same time. Why won't this hedgehog just think about Sonic? Maybe if he brought him up…

"Shadow, what color do you think suits Sonic?" Silver randomly walked into a store, picked out two shirts without looking, and bringing them up to the other.

Without thinking, Shadow swiftly replied, not at all thrown off by the psychic's random question. "Black." Silver sweatdropped. Of course. Black…

"What else?" he tried.

"Green."

Green. Of course. His eyes.

"And?"

"Red, maybe."

Red. Um. Okay.

"Anything else?"

"Drop it. If you want to search for his clothes so badly, I can help. Just stop nagging me," Shadow replied. "Why don't you look for your own clothes?"

Silver put on a thoughtful look as if considering the other's suggestion, but instead, he was trying to detect if Shadow had any thoughts on the blue one. _Huh. His thoughts don't say much. 'What the hell is wrong with him today?' Right. Thanks Shadow._

For the rest of the shopping time, nothing happened, except for the one little thing that slipped when Shadow and Sonic's shoulders brushed when they were back to back, searching for something. Here's how it went:

'Bump. "Oh, hey, Shadow. Sorry." Small chuckle.

Shadow is silent. His thoughts: _Be careful next time, Shadow, you idiot. You better not let it slip that you're trying to pick out a shirt for him, too._

"Hey, what are you doing here? It's all bright colors. Do you like them?"

"No." Silence. "Just wanted to see them."

"Oh. Okay." Sonic walks away.'

And that was really it.

**Result: Fail/Success**

**Mind Reading Attempt: 3**

It was 3:58 P.M. and the guys were heading to the fast food section. They found a big table and set their stuff down there. It was ten minutes later when the girls came back. "Hehe, sorry," Amy apologized. "They had a lot of cute dresses."

And then, they ate. Lots and lots of junk food. Fries, burgers, pudding, and unhealthy drinks. And all the while, Shadow hadn't showed any signs of interest in the azure hero, or even thought anything of him. Silver was getting frustrated. Quickly, when Shadow and Amy wasn't looking, he kicked Sonic under the table, nodded towards the black hedgie, and made faces. Sonic wasn't too happy from the bruise he'd gotten, but he got the point. He had to interact with his rival.

"Hey, Shads, did you find anything that you liked?" He asked, unlinking his arms awkwardly with Amy after glancing at Silver's disapproving scowl.

"Actually, yes. They've got really nice jackets." And that was it. Nothing less, nothing more.

After a little bit more of Silver bulging his eyes and Sonic and Shadow trying to work out a decent conversation, the mind-reader finally got something. The black hedgehog's thoughts got more frantic and started fuss about whether he was saying the right things as the conversation went along. Silver smiled.

**Result: Success.**

**Hehehe~~~ Heya guys~ I updated in 21 days! Be happy! :D Anyway...didn't know what I was doing here. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. I prolly won't be updating for a few more days, so...yeah. I'll see you guys in a bit! ;3 I'm most likely going to post the next chapter of My Shadowy Hero within two or three days. Until then!~**


	9. Midnight Visit

**Whoa. Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! It's really nice to feel that people appreciates what you write. Thanks, you guys. You're too awesome.**

Chapter 9: Midnight Visit

Everyone went back to their rooms after hanging around in the lobby, just chatting. They got back to the hotel at around 4:30 P.M. (since they got lost for some time again). Silver didn't tell Sonic anything about what Shadow felt towards him, though. 'I dunno, his mind is kind of hard to read,' was what he told the blue blur. Sonic just responded with an 'oh.'

When they returned to their rooms, it was about nine o' clock, since they had to wake up early tomorrow to go visit museums and on tours and all that. The girls had tried on their clothes, took a shower, and went to sleep. Silver and Tails stayed up a little later to further plan the trip. Knuckles just took a towel and rinsed himself after dampening it, before crashing onto his bed and passing out as well. Sonic took a shower instead and dosed off lightly after drying his quills. Shadow washed himself off then took a book he'd brought and read in his bed for a while.

**00:34 A.M.**

Sonic couldn't decide what to do.

He couldn't sleep after the one hour he managed to get in. Everyone else was asleep, and he didn't want to wake anyone up just because he couldn't. He had walked around the room several times, checking and double checking to see if there was anything interesting for him to do. Nothing. The TV costs money, and he didn't want to spend any on some cheap reality shows. The window view of the lit up street got boring after a few minutes, since he couldn't really see what was going on down there. There were a few pads of paper and pen. He wasn't in the mood to draw…

Yeah. There really was nothing to do. So, out of pure and utter boredom, he started to stare at Knuckles for minutes straight-creepily-until his eyes got sore and slightly bloodshot.

But that only wasted a _few_ minutes. What else was there to do? He thought about Amy. They had good times together and there was that time when…

XXX

Shadow rubbed his eyes before continuing the paragraph he was on.

Occasionally, he averted his eyes from the book and glanced at the digital clock on the counter next to the bed. Just a bit before one o' clock in the morning…he should go to bed soon.

The reason he decided to stay up this late was that he didn't really feel like wasting all the hours sleeping. He didn't need rest as much as other people and mobians did. Why not read and do something at least a little productive?

After another fifteen minutes, he folded the page he was on lightly in the corner and closed the book with a little popping sound and leaned his head back. Even the Ultimate Lifeform can't read for too long.

The dark hedgehog looked out the window in silence. _I suppose it is pretty lonely here with just me._ But he quickly shrugged the thought off. Lonely. Pah, what an ironic word for a hedgehog who had been mostly independent all his life.

_ Wonder what that Faker's doing…_

XXX

The blue hedgehog stopped reliving the past and snuck to the door of his room. The thoughts had only lasted about fifteen minutes and he got even _more_ bored. Who knows, maybe it can kill you somehow.

Not wanting to find out, Sonic quietly slipped out of the room and into the hallway, but not before sticking a door stopper before the door completely closed. He also took a backup card for the room just in case.

He surveyed the doors all his friends were in for lights. Shadow's room, right next to Sonic and Knuckles's room, didn't have any lights on. Tails and Silver's room didn't have the slightest illumination, either. And last but not least, the girls' room, the farthest away from his room, didn't have any soft glow of light or anything.

Disappointed, Sonic stalked back towards his room and was about to head back in before he looked closely and saw a sliver of yellow. Shadow was…awake?

Sonic creeped closer to his rival's room and pressed his ear lightly against the door labeled 406. He heard faint noises.

Yep. He's awake.

The whirlwind hedgehog almost started cheering before stopping himself and quietly knocked on the door. His heart was beating way faster and harder than normal. Why would he feel nervous only to knock on a door? This had never happened before.

But before he could think more about it, the door slowly opened and the darker hedgehog of the two was in front of the door.

"Shadow! Am I glad you're awa—"  
"Go to sleep, Faker." As the other said that, he started closing the door.

Just before it completely closed with a click, Sonic managed to stick a foot in between the door and the wall. "Hey! Wait a sec! Can't a bored hedgehog just visit another friend because he couldn't sleep?"

They stayed like that for a few seconds before Shadow answered. "What do you want?" he slowly opened the door again, this time, looking at the annoying hero with an irritated glare.

Sonic grinned. "Oh, nothing much. Some company will do, though."

Shadow sighed heavily. "Right now?"

"Yep," he said happily with a nod.

"…Are you sure you can't fall asleep? I can help you knock you out if you want."

Sonic chuckled and refused the 'awfully nice offer.' Instead, he pried open the door and clicked it shut after he got in. Taking a quick sweep of the room, he started talking again. "So. Why are you up so late?"

Shadow resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I could ask you the same question."

"Hey, I asked it first, pal. Answer mine and then I'll answer yours."

"Fine, fine."

And so they wasted two minutes explaining.

"So, do you have anything to do?" Sonic asked after he finished telling the other why he was up so late.

"No," Shadow grunted, a bit annoyed to be reminded when the hero decided to barge in. "I was just about to go to sleep."

For some reason though, Sonic just grinned. "Then, am I glad to have stopped by right then."

Shadow just rolled his eyes and changed the subject. "How long do you plan on staying here?"

"Until I get tired," Sonic replied plainly.

"I don't know _how_ you're going to get tired. This room is just as boring as yours."

"But you're not boring, are you?"

Shadow stayed quiet after that, and it took some time before they actually started talking again. But once they started, everything ran smoothly as if someone had poured grease over their words. The occasional tease, the occasional threat, and the occasional laughter. And you know what's nice? Not having to worry about what you say. Sonic was always semi-aware of his words when he talked to the black one. Suppose it's just a habit since it's real easy to get him to utter a death threat, but that's not the point. It just seemed so much easier and so much weight lifted off his shoulders, not having to worry about what he said.

He started to more and more tired, until he was practically swaying back and forth with eyelids threatening to close any second. He could barely concentrate on Shadow's words. What was he saying…? How should he respond…?

"Oh…yeah…I remember," Sonic murmured randomly, not wanting to be rude to not reply at all.

"You do? Then what happened? I wasn't there at all." Shadow waited for a response. However, he got nothing but a '_thump_.'

He almost jumped. But, when he switched his gaze to his companion, he wanted to laugh. There the blue hedgehog was, passed out on his bed. Since he was originally sitting on his knees, his body was twisted in an awkward position to sleep. But, somehow, he was still out cold. You could just tell from the light snores coming from his parted lips, taking in air and releasing the unnecessary carbon dioxide slower than usual.

Shadow just sat there and stared at his rival for a few seconds before standing up and walking over to him. Carefully slipping his arms under the unconscious hedgehog, he shuddered from the warmth and picked him up. He quietly padded towards his door and went out into the hallway, heading for the room next to his. He went inside Room 405 without a sound. However, before placing Sonic into his own bed, he paused. He knew he wouldn't get a chance like this anytime soon or, possibly, at all.

So, while still covered in the darkness and away from Knuckles's line of sight, he lightly stroked the cobalt quills and scratched softly at the fluffy place behind Sonic's ears. The midnight hedgehog smiled as he heard the other purr. Holding Sonic for just a few more seconds, he tore himself away from him and went over to set Sonic into his bed.

After pulling the sheets over him, Shadow looked at his sleeping counterpart one last time before leaving for his own room.

By the time he got back, the clock read 3:57 A.M. Black ears drooped, and Shadow scowled as he yawned. It was almost four. In the morning. True, it was stated that he didn't need as much sleep, but it was a luxury, too, when it comes to times that he wanted to relax. He could've had an extra two hours if the over-hyper hedgehog hadn't paid him a visit.

But…you know what? He couldn't complain.

He fell into a dreamless slumber, feeling happy in some kind of strange way.

**Heyhey~~ I'm back! :D Anyway, I just wanted a chapter to finish off the night. As you can tell, it made Shadow really happy. ;3 I probably won't update again until a bit of time, since I still need to do a little research about the tours and museums and such. I forgot what I did when I went to Hokkaido, goddammit! D:**


	10. Museum Tour and Catching Colds

**Okay. Internet is kind of limited in China sooooo~ I'll try my best to work with the things I know. :3**

**AND BTW PERCY IS NOT DEAD WITH THIS STORY GEEZ.**

Chapter 10: Museum Tour and Catching Colds

"Sonic. Sonic. Sonic."

The voice rang in said hedgehog's ear, each time getting louder. But he still refused to get up. His limbs were too heavy to lift…

"Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue," the other one repeated again, poking at Sonic every time he said the color.

The azure hedgehog curled up into a spike ball and jabbed the other guy's hands. "Shut up, Knuckles. I'm up. Geez."

Despite a rather painful stinging in his hands, Knuckles had a grin on. "Not so fun when you're the one being tortured in your sleep, now is it?" The red one referred to the time when he was forced to get out of bed with the blue one poking and prodding at him.

Sonic shook his head and rubbed his eyes to get the sleepiness out of them. He let out a long, low groan as he walked to the bathroom and splashed cold water in his face. What had happened yesterday night? He would never have such a hard time waking up. At least, in normal circumstances, no. So…what had happened?

"Mehh…" he groaned. Too hungry. Think about it later after breakfast.

After the two had both cleaned up and put on the new clothes they had bought yesterday, they headed out the door and went to knock on everyone's doors to see if they were up yet.

Shadow's room was always the first they checked mainly because it was right next to theirs. And, as they had expected, the dark hedgehog was already up and ready to go. The three then trotted to the room of Silver and Tails. After waiting a few minutes because the clothes were too difficult for Silver to put on along with a few 'it's no use, guys, it won't fit' and with Tails sweatdropping…Silver finally got a plain shirt and pants on, and the group grew up to five mobians.

Next was Room 410 where the pink, the purple, and the white furries were at. They stalled for another few minutes trying to pick out the clothes that fitted today's weather along with bickering about which top went with which dress. Finally done, the three girls joined the rest of the group. All eight mobians were here.

They headed down to the lobby and ate breakfast with the loud chatters of other people in the café. When they were almost done, Tails started discussing and explaining where they were going today.

"We're first going to visit this museum called the Historical Museum of Hokkaido. (A/N: I know, real simple). Then, we find a place nearby to eat lunch. After that, because today is going to be really hot, we're going up to the clouds to see the Sea of Clouds. When we finish, we're going to find another place to eat dinner. Lastly, we return to the hotel and do whatever we want to relax. I was thinking that maybe we could go to the indoor rotenburo before going to sleep. Sound good?" Tails finished and looked around the group of friends to see if anyone disagreed. The only sounds that didn't agree or disagree were the quiet chewing of toast and other contents of their breakfast. "Alright. Now let's finish our breakfast. We'll rest for half an hour and then get going. We're leaving at 10:00."

XXX

"We line up right here, Silver," Blaze said, grabbing Silver's hand before he went over to the other line.

Said hedgehog laughed nervously, muttering, "Oh, I-I knew that…Just testing you, ya know?" The lavender cat rolled her eyes. Then Silver looked away and saw Sonic and Tails behind him, the blue hedgehog tapping his foot.

"Man, why do these lines take so long?" Sonic muttered, glancing at the grand clock on the wall above the Help Center.

Tails shrugged and went back on studying the brochure about the museum tour.

Sonic turned to Knuckles, who was staring at the clock and was as still as a rock. He didn't even seem like he was breathing. "Argh, not you, too!" Sonic said, waving a hand in front of his violet eyes, trying to get his attention.

"StopithedgehogI'mtryingtomeditatewithmyeyesopenno wgoawaysiiiigh," was the response the speedy hedgehog got.

Sonic gave a disgruntled growl of annoyance and stayed silent again.

Another twenty minutes passed before they were finally next in line, and Shadow was already speaking the foreign language with impressive speed and fluency. With an 'arigato gozaimasu,' the eight followed Shadow's lead with a map of the museum in hand, and heading over to the tour guides. One spoke Japanese, one spoke English, and one spoke French. (A/N: I dunno what languages to put here, sue me)

The English tour guide smiled at the crowd and yelled over the noise in the museum. "Okay, so this is the Historical Museum of Hokkaido. My name is Tom, and I'll be your tour guide today. Those of you who speak English, please come and follow me and we'll start the tour." With that, he held up a wooden sign with a piece of paper pasted on it with one word, "ENGLISH" written on it and started walking towards another entrance.

Once a crowd of people was in the new room, Tom lowered his sign and began speaking again. "This tour consists of three activities. The Main Exhibition, the Classified Exhibition, and the Living Experience will be preformed. First off, we are in the room where we perform the Main Exhibition. So, let's start with introducing to you the topic of what really is the Island of Hokkaido."

And he went on talking about the Ainu Culture, the Age of "Ezo", the Early Modern Era, the Progression of Colonization, about how Hokkaido from recession to World War II, about the Postwar Period, and ending it with the topic name of 'Tomorrow's Hokkaido.' Tom finished the Main Exhibition with the tight time limit of sixty minutes before moving on to the Classified Exhibition.

In the new room, there were fossils of animals, and the specimen of birds, animals, and plants. There were also prehistorical earthenware and stone tools, utensils for fishing and farming, and many more.

And as they cruised along with ninety minutes already passed of the tour, they went into the Living Experience Room, where the tourists get to touch and observe real, life-size tools the Japanese had used back then. Everyone huddled around Tom as he demonstrated how to weave using straws before everyone was handed a few strands and began to weave.

"Well, I suppose this is where the tour comes to a conclusion. I hope you have gained a lot more information about Hokkaido and its history and had fun during the two hours of this tour. Have a nice day!" Tom finished and walked over back to where the two other tour guides were at.

Sonic was caught with his eyes closed and making soft snoring noises by Tails, who'd nudged his bigger brother awake. "…You weren't sleeping through the whole thing…right, Sonic?"

Said speedster rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Narh…I was awake…" and then he muttered the last two words under his breath, "Kind of…"

Rouge came over and put a hand on Tails's shoulder before the two tailed fox could scold Sonic. "I can't believe I'm saying this but, I gotta agree with Blue Boy here. It was so boring I swear I was going to fall asleep. And I'm a bat who sleeps at night for Chaos sakes! I got enough sleep last night."

Tails pulled back and stayed quiet, looking away before muttering about how 'it was kind of boring but kind of not but I was confused at a lot of points hmm I wonder what the tour guide was thinking right then was he about to fall asleep too urgh why did I even make us go to this museum…'

As the eight mobians regrouped, Tails announced that they would go eat lunch and take a break. As the fox was about to flip through his notes on where they would be having lunch, Shadow muttered about the lounge and shopping place they had in the museum.

"The lounge is on the second floor, the shopping place is on the first floor, and there's a restaurant on the second floor as well," he said.

As Tails double checked, Shadow was questioned at how he knew the information, and he simply replied with 'I asked the person at the Help Center'. And then the gang walked towards the staircase to the second floor.

XXX

With a piece of an egg roll in between his chopsticks, Sonic asked if he could go down to the shopping section and look at some souvenirs and just wander around for a little bit.

When nobody responded except with the slurping of noodles and the 'glug, glug' sound of swallowing tea, Sonic shrugged and stuffed the egg roll in his mouth before exiting the restaurant and heading down to the shopping section.

Down there, he saw scrolls and handmade models with exceptional details. Picking some up and studying it eye leveled, he quickly got through almost half of the souvenir section.

But just then, he heard a familiar label, said with the familiar sound of a certain someone… "Faker."

Sonic snapped his head back and saw his black and red hedgehog friend standing right next to him, and was so surprised he almost dropped the porcelain chibi model out of his hands.

"Oh h-hey! Didn't see you there," Sonic said, rubbing the back of his neck while setting down the figurine down back onto its shelf. "What are you doing here?"

"Same reason you did." _Except also to grant that foxie his request to keep an eye out for you. And also to spend some time alone with you. And also to get away from Silver's weird stare and grin when Fox Boy asked for me to join you._

"Well, that's all cool. We can check out the rest of the store together, then." Sonic grinned as he picked up another model that he was fascinated by. "Aww, look at this Shadow~" he cooed as he lifted the figurine of two doves snuggling up next to each other with closed eyes and a thin outline of a heart holding the two figures together. "Ain't it cute?~"

Shadow tried not to put on a small smile and only replied, "Don't break it."

XXX

By the time the eight of them were cleaned up and ready to head off to the Sea of Clouds, it was already 13:30.

After twenty minutes of traveling by foot, they had arrived at the place and were already getting tickets for the ride to get up to the elevated grounds.

Apparently, for this activity, you had to ride a telpher, which is kind of like a small room - less than 10 x 10 feet total - made out of plastic and metal, and it's attached to a long and thick line, where you'll be dangling in the air, going up the line, riding up to your destination.

…Which was rather scary if you're scared of heights because you can see the trees and the hills below you while you dangle almost dangerously above them, the only security was a line. So you're literally putting your life on the line.

But of course, the people wouldn't open it if it wasn't safe.

As soon as they reached the entrance at the top of the mountain, they were led by the staff there and into a room where you could borrow rain jackets for the visit. And after they were all dressed up and ready, they got to another entrance where it lead out to a wooden platform built on the mountain.

The view of mountains rich with evergreens and vegetation was almost not visible because of all the fog and the annoying millions of tiny raindrops attacking your face, but it was still pretty.

And cold.

Blaze growled as she tried to summon a small amount of fire. But after five attempts – five attempts! – and finally getting a small flicker of warm, welcoming, familiar light, it almost immediately got put out. And then she muttered about rain and coldness and how something should be erased from existence…And Silver was there only to pat her head and say, 'there, there…' and awkwardly comfort her from the evil raindrops.

Amy squealed as she shut her eyes and laughed wholeheartedly, feeling the raindrops fall into her mouth and onto her tongue as she clung onto Sonic's arm for warmth and also just because.

Rouge shivered as she shook her head and glared at the poufy whiteness at the corner of her eyes. Her luscious hair was being ruined and she couldn't do a thing about it. And she was freezing! Trying to find a way to deal with the time being up here, she slowly found her way to her GUN partner and stayed close for body warmth.

Tails laughed as he snapped pictures of Sonic and Amy with the background of the mountains as a reminder that they had been here. The faces they were making were so silly and ugly to the point it was actually kind of funny in that awkward way.

Knuckles snuck into a picture of Tails's at the last minute, spreading both his arms and sticking his tongue out while flaring his nostrils and crossing his eyes, yelling out, "Hah, this picture is ruined!"

So overall, they had a good time.

**Derp I felt like ending it there. :3 Sorry for the slight delay, I've been depressed and busy and everything's just hitting me like a bunch o' blocks and I can't catch a break. I'm caught between games, family visits, playing my instrument, studying my Japanese, going to Chinese Lessons, going to Piano Lessons, drawing, writing, and just overall life. DAMN YOU LIFE WHY YOU TAKE UP EVERYTHING UGH.**

**For next chappie, prepare for steaming hot rooms with two main hawttie hedgehawgs in there…;3**


End file.
